By Joey Bachich
Staff Writer
The newly-ranked Lions drew No. 4 Johns Hopkins in a tightly contested 2-2 match. The Lions led the game in shots, shots on goal and corners. They played aggressive from the start and were not scared to go after the Blue Jays–even when down in the game.
The Game
The Lions came out aggressive as always in this game, forcing Johns Hopkins on their back foot early on. The College ran through fifth-year journalism major Emma Pascarella as often as possible as she sent in some dangerous crosses. Early in the first half, the Lions struck first with a goal from a corner off the head of fifth-year math major Lindsey O’Keefe, with assists by Pascarella and junior business major Ava Curtis.
The Blue Jays tied it up with a free kick goal by Katie Sullivan that was rifled into the left edge of the goal. A minute later Sullivan scored another great goal that junior goalie and kinesiology and health science major Corrine Byrum got a hand to, but the shot was too strong to deflect over the post. The Lions kept the pressure on, however, and battled through the adversity of two quick goals. The rest of the half was tightly contested where no team had a strong foothold in the game.
The second half started well for the Lions, keeping Johns Hopkins in their own half of the field for the beginning. Johns Hopkins invited the pressure, being up 2-1, and did not want to let up an easy scoring opportunity with a lot of bodies in front of goal. Early in the half, Pascarella had a wonderful through ball to undecided senior Sophia Vieria, but freshman goalie Eva Breiland came up with a huge save for the Blue Jays.
This led junior marketing major Rachel Burkhard to score an Olimpico goal, putting the ball in the back of the net from a corner. The team celebrated by surrounding her, and it seemed to give the Lions a huge boost in energy for the rest of the half. Junior business major Victoria D’Imperio had a great look at a goal from outside the box that forced Breiland to push the ball out wide.
The Lions had the pressure on the whole half, but at the end, Johns Hopkins had a late cross that looked to be going into the net, but goalie Corrine Byrum came up huge with a save. The game ended 2-2 with a ton of positives to take from the Top 25 matchup.
What’s Next
The Lions have two games left before conference play starts in the NJAC. They travel to Hood College on Sept. 16 and come back home against Stevens University on Sept. 20. The College is now ranked at 25 and are looking to jump up higher in the rankings with this draw and two more wins right before the all important conference run.
